1. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

1. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
(1968)
Directed by George Romero

Well, here it is, my favorite scary movie, “Night of the Living Dead”. I’ve been singing the praises of so many movies that my pipes are sore, the hour is late and the candle is guttering to die. But let me just say, while there is time, that this low budget indie is thee perfect horror movie. The acting is decidedly above the B-movie level, especially the performance of Duane Jones as Ben, the writing is intelligent and the downbeat ending of meat hooks and burning corpses is hard to top for sheer gooseflesh effect. As is evidenced by entries up and down this list, you don’t need a lot of money or big time stars to make a great horror movie. It’s been argued that horror is actually quite conservative (if you act out of line then you will be punished so keep to the straight and narrow, etc.) but I think the best horror is disturbing because it is subversive. It’s a genre perfect for expressing the unspeakable. Because of this, masterworks like “Night of the Living Dead” will continue to bubble up from the underground as the years roll by, no matter how hard the squares try to suppress their rising. So Ben survives the night long assault of the flesh eating dead only to be mistaken for one of the zombies and shot in the forehead. The zombies by daylight look lost and pathetic as they stagger around and the real dangerous monsters, the kill crazy mob of gun toting cops and armed citizens, are revealed. Horror can be addictive because of it’s thrills but it’s certainly not without it’s lessons. On that note I should stop typing and try to get some sleep. Maybe in slumberland I’ll navigate through some old dark houses and sip wine with the ghost of Carol Borland. I hope you have pleasant dreams as well and, in the words of Sir Graves Ghastly, I wish you all “Happy Haunting!” and good night.

2. ERASERHEAD

2. ERASERHEAD
(1976)
Directed by David Lynch

Horror by definition is not a pleasant thing. It is, after all, the polar opposite of attraction and contentment. Having a gun held to your head in a robbery or being helpless and menaced in any way is undoubtedly horrific. Witnessing something monstrous and inhuman (providing of course that you yourself are not monstrous and inhuman) will also summon the horror response. It's an uncomfortable and panicked state of mind marked by repulsion, dread and fear that even most thrill seekers only enjoy in mediated doses. Horror in cinema, because it is most commonly intended as entertainment, is usually packaged with other elements and ingredients so the experience isn't too disagreeable. David Lynch apparently wasn't terribly concerned with the comfort level of his audience when he created his first feature length effort "Eraserhead" and, as a result, gave us a piece of true unfiltered horror. Capturing on film the weird nightmares that fester in the subconscious is a talent that he is famous for and none of his films are weirder or more purely nightmarish than this one. My favorite bits of his other films ("Wild at Heart" (1990), "Fire Walk With Me" (1992) and "Mulholland Drive" (2001) especially) are always the surreal episodes that take the viewer through the looking glass and into bizarre and unpredictable interior worlds. Unfettered by reality he can summon up moments of real beauty but just as easily (and probably more often) he summons screeching terror. In "Eraserhead" there is no trip through the looking glass. We are on the other side as soon as the film starts rolling and we are there until the bitter end. The lady in the radiator, the bundled infant creature, the depressing and unrelenting atmosphere filled with industrial whistles and clanks, the howling winds. A fantastic and grossly symbolic take on the horrors of parenthood? Could be. A good movie for lonely people to watch on Valentine's Day? Most definitely.

3. FREAKS

3. FREAKS
(1932)
Directed by Tod Browning

Tod Browning had worked sideshows and circuses as a young man and had carny running in his veins. His collaborations with Lon Chaney in a string of great films in the 1920's had common threads of deformity and vengeance running through them and "Freaks", a culmination of these obsessive themes and influences, was the film he was born to create. He was riding high on the big success of Universal's "Dracula"(1931) and when MGM landed him to do this film they gave him full creative control only to be completely shocked and dismayed by the results. This really is a true historical document that offers the viewer a glimpse into the bygone days of the old time freak shows. The cast includes real life pinheads, a Siamese twin, a bearded lady, the living torso (no arms, no legs), Johnny Eck the half-boy (nothing below the ribcage), the half-man, half-woman Josephine Joseph, and other usual big top denizens like the strong man, clowns, midgets and dwarves. Some of the so-called normal people have good hearts, namely the charming love struck couple of Phroso the Clown and Venus the seal trainer, but they are mirrored by the sinister couple of Cleopatra (Olga Bacalnova) and her lover the strong man. Cleo finds out that the midget Hans (Harry Earles, who also played the cigar smoking imposter baby in Browning's brilliant "The Unholy Three"(1930)) is due to inherit a fortune and she goes about playing him like a fiddle to get him married with the intention of poisoning him once under matrimonial control. Anyone who has ever felt abnormal or strange or unwanted is likely to get their heart strings tugged hard by this movie but Cleo and the strong man have underestimated the freaks and in the stormy climax they exact their vengeance in horrific fashion. Rarely has revenge been so sweet. Sadly, Browning's career didn't recover from the ensuing backlash of this film, but it's hard to imagine how he could've topped it anyway.

4. THE EXORCIST

4. THE EXORCIST
(1973)
Directed by William Friedkin

There are many advantages to being born and raised Catholic. I am a product of Catholic schools and in Catholicism I found many things to be perversely exciting- the bloody martyrs, the shadowy confessional booths, the glowing rows of dedication candles, the thunderous pipe organs, the bitter sexless nuns, the burning threat of Hell, the delicious guilt for all things pleasurable and the very real threat of demonic possession are just a few that come to mind. Yes, "The Exorcist" scared the shit out of me when I first saw it on the sly as a youngster. Driven to heighten my terror I bought a used copy of the novel by William Peter Blatty and I've read that same copy cover to cover at least half a dozen times over the years, trying to isolate and understand the serious case of the creeps that this little tale still summons in me. I think the fears that it taps into are pretty primal and experts say they even have an effect on non-Catholics. After all, few things are more terrifying than losing identity, control and being dragged post haste towards death in the meantime. There are a lot of invasive forces that can take over our bodies and forever alter our personalities and they are all scary. This movie provides us with a visceral representation of such an invasion but I think the most effective section of the film is the slowly evolving suspense driven first half before little Regan's head creaks around and she's tied to the bedposts. A word to the wise- don't mess with Pazuzu.

5. DEMENTIA

5. DEMENTIA
(1955)
Directed by John Parker

The 1950's, a decade where a long list of cool exploits and advances rumbled this square planet, was a period that was surprisingly lean on truly great horror flicks. Sure, there was no shortage of creature features and B-movie lunacies to be had at the local drive-in that undeniably have their charms, but seriously troubling and inventive flicks were hard to find. Here's one worth digging up. Singular, shadowy, unsettling, bizarre- "Dementia" is a surreal low budget bit of genius that unfolds on a hallucinatory noir dreamscape complete with deserted late night city streets of blowing trash, a graveyard and a smoky bohemian jazz club. The movie follows a troubled young woman as she wanders a weird night filled with madness, blood and ghosts. It's safe to say that there is no other movie quite like this one. Originally shot in 1953 it's easy to see why this little slice of black and white nightmare had distribution problems what with it's unrelenting mood of revulsion and sexual menace, not to mention one memorably manic dismemberment scene. "Dementia" was re-released as "Daughter of Horror" with an oddball voiceover but watching the "silent" version is recommended. We are very lucky that this morbid little pearl has survived and is still available. Get decked out in black, indulge in your choice of poison and get looped by this weirdness. Crazy, man, crazy.

6. THE OLD DARK HOUSE

6. THE OLD DARK HOUSE
(1932)
Directed by James Whale

The roads in Wales are washed out due to torrential rains and five travelers are forced to seek shelter in the isolated manor of the Femm family. The Femm family is a strange crew. We have three eccentric siblings, their bed-ridden 102 year old father and a horribly scarred mumbling butler who goes ballistic when he hits the sauce. These ten characters are forced to deal with each other during one inclement evening and the result is the greatest of all old dark house thrillers, appropriately titled "The Old Dark House". The cast, comprised of mostly British actors who cut their teeth in the theatre, is a rare delight. The three eccentric siblings are played by Ernest Thesiger (gloriously gay head of the house), Eva Moore (his creepy death obsessed sister) and Brember Wills (their cackling pyromaniac little brother who is usually kept locked in his room away from fire). The menacing butler is brought to monosyllabic life by Boris Karloff fresh from his performance as Frankenstein's monster, and the travelers are played by the dashing Melvyn Douglas, the jolly rotund Charles Laughton, the adorable brunette Lillian Bond, the elegant blonde Gloria Stuart (who would also appear in "The Invisible Man" opposite Claude Reins) and her brave husband Raymond Massey. This is easily my favorite cast out of any horror movie. The script (adapted from the J.B. Priestly novel "Benighted") is air tight and James Whale works his usual visual magic, improving upon some of the moody elements Paul Leni employed in the 1927 version of "The Cat and the Canary". This is my favorite of all the Universal classics. Hands severed. Hands down.

7. NOSFERATU, THE VAMPYRE

7. NOSFERATU, THE VAMPYRE
(1979)
Directed by Werner Herzog

Much has been made of the creative partnership between Werner Herzog and notorious crackpot Klaus Kinski and the two teamed up to create some compelling films (i.e. "Fitzcarraldo" (1982) and "Aguirre, Wrath of God"(1972)) but "Nosferatu, the Vampyre" is their finest moment and, in my not so humble estimation, the best vampire movie ever made. I'd also proclaim it the most beautiful horror movie ever. It certainly doesn't hurt that the template was the Murnau classic from 1921 (which Herzog considered the most important movie ever made in Germany). It also doesn't hurt that the screen is graced not only by Kinski as the bald corpse colored monster but by the pale beauty of Isabelle Adjani as well who, throughout her career, has shown a certain flair for portraying madness ("Camille Claudel"(1988), "The Story of Adele H"(1975) and the bizarre "Possession"(1981) are three fine examples). Her movements are slow, elegant and haunting and these adjectives are also appropriate when describing the movie as a whole. A sequence that exemplifies this mood finds the character of Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) traveling on foot to the castle of Dracula as the day wanes and night falls. Accompanied by the gorgeous music of Wagner from "Das Reingold" we watch darkening clouds roll over mountain peaks until the sun is gone. Herzog has a penchant for lingering on evocative landscapes but here the effect feels like one long delicious shiver. He is taking us into the land of phantoms, shadows and plague. It's mesmerizing if you are susceptible to such spells.

8. SUSPIRIA

8. SUSPIRIA
(1977)
Directed by Dario Argento

You can make at least three lofty claims about this one: it's the crown jewel of Italian horror, it's the best damn witchcraft movie ever made, and it's blessed with the most effective horror soundtrack of all time (courtesy of Goblin). There are so many elements successfully coming together here that it's still an overwhelming experience (especially in full stereo with the volume cranked). Director Dario Argento began his career by turning out some provocative dark thrillers but soon followed his calling down a bloodier path with 1975's "Deep Red". Two years later he unleashed "Suspiria", a full blown tale of supernatural horror that plays out like a candy colored nightmare. Literary influences for this masterwork include Lewis Carrol's "Alice in Wonderland" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Originally the script called for much younger girls to play the main roles and, although this was changed, the film retains the feeling of a child's nightmare. Argento employs little tricks to heighten this atmosphere like placing doorknobs higher so that the adult characters have to reach up, like a child, to open a door, and by keeping much of the dialogue intended to be delivered by younger actresses intact. The results, however, are anything but childlike. Jessica Harper plays the ballerina under duress who comes to an elite dancing academy in Germany. The night of her arrival there is a rainstorm and a grisly double murder. Her curiosity about the crime leads her to the discovery that this prestigious school of dance is run by a coven of witches who do not take kindly to meddling young Americans. Truly a work of bloody high art.

9. HALLOWEEN

9. HALLOWEEN
(1978)
Directed by John Carpenter

October is my favorite month of the year because it culminates in that glorious celebration of masquerade, inversion and all things dark known as Halloween. This festive holiday predates motion pictures but, oddly enough, it was never used as a prominent backdrop for any of the celebrated black and white horror movies (although it was used in some entertaining shorts like "Betty Boop's Halloween Party"). The obvious cinematic appeal of flickering jack 'o lanterns and blowing leaves wasn't capitalized on until much later and, by the time it was, the result was anything but a treat for little kids. The autumnal ritual that finds many folks playfully carving pumpkins was now the territory of a masked psycho who carved people. Sure, there were some precursors to the much maligned slasher film genre before 1978 (films like "Twitch of the Death Nerve"(1971) and "Black Christmas"(1974)) but none were as masterful or as frightening as John Carpenter's little indie called "Halloween". This one wrote the book. Of course it's been ripped off so many goddamn times that it's hard for folks to step back and appreciate it as the remarkably original film that it is and yes, it's unfortunate that it spawned a legion of copy cat garbage films of the slice and dice variety but that doesn't diminish it's power. Forget the copy cats, forget the sequels (please) but don't forget the original.

10. THE BLACK CAT

10. THE BLACK CAT
(1934)
Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer

The First World War left Europe deeply scarred and it's reverberations could still be felt fifteen years afterwards in 1934 with movies like "The Black Cat". The story involves an architect named Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff) whose flawed leadership in the war lead to the slaughter of thousands. After the war, instead of running from the scene of his atrocity, he uses his architectural skills to build a massive house in the Bauhaus style directly over the spot. Embracing the role of villain and reveling in morbidity, Poelzig has devoted himself to the black arts and keeps his dead wife on the premises in a glass coffin. One day this evil fucker gets a visit from one of his old comrades, Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Bela Lugosi). Dr. Vitus has just spent fifteen years in the soul crushing hell of a Russian prison because of Poelzig and is making a friendly visit to clear a few things up. As you might surmise, revenge is on the menu and violence is inevitable. For the record, Lugosi was a veteran of the war himself and was wounded three times before his fighting days were over. Legend has it that he could really creep a person out with his ghastly war stories. Maybe this is why his performance in "The Black Cat" is so gripping. By the way, it should be noted that "The Black Cat" bears no resemblance to the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name that it's supposedly based on but that is of little consequence. Poe certainly would've approved of the dread and sadism on display here. This is essential viewing for all monster kids.

11. BLUE VELVET

11. BLUE VELVET
(1986)
Directed by David Lynch

As far as monsters go, I'd rather fend off a posse of flesh eating zombies than go on a joy ride with Frank Booth. I caught this on cable television when I was still in high school after a long night of imbibing in various spirits with my delinquent friends and I had absolutely no idea what I was in for. The folks were asleep and I camped out on the couch. I was lucky enough to catch the movie right at the beginning and the Bobby Vinton song drew me in. The next thing I knew there was an ear crawling with ants and psychopath Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper in his greatest role) sucking down nitrus oxide and doing scissor tricks. I was horrified and changed for life. I think this baby had the same revelatory effect on a lot of folks. Lynch has an uncanny ability to create images of haunting beauty before suddenly shifting the focus into some new unpredictable darkness. A brief illustration of this occurs when the tormented nightclub singer Dorothy (played by Isabella Rossellini) is singing the title song bathed in lush blue light in front of a jazz combo backed by Argento red drapes. The melody is wistful but soothing and then the song fails and morphs into a dark and ominous orchestration (composed by long time Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti) that accompanies footage of our two main characters driving along in the night. Trouble and violence are never far away. Danger is lurking nearby. Heineken? Fuck that shit...

12. THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

12. THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
(1935)
Directed by James Whale

Generally regarded as the greatest of the Universal horror films of the 1930's, "Bride of Frankenstein" certainly had the full support of the studio, giving director James Whale considerably more lavish resources than he had at his disposal when filming the 1931 original. Because of the extra piles of cash and a remarkable level of artistic freedom, Whale's visual ideas were developed brilliantly. Amazing gothic sets, gorgeous black and white photography, some choice gallows humor and Karloff's heart-wrenching portrayal of the monster serve as the main support beams in this films hallowed status. But Karloff's isn't the only command performance here. Special accolades should be heaped on Ernest Thesiger, cast in the role of Dr. Pretorius, who seduces Dr. Frankenstein back into experimenting with creating life out of dead tissue, this time to assemble a woman. Thesiger is delightfully twisted, evil and flamboyantly queer, adding a new dimension to his "seduction" of Frankenstein, who is once again portrayed by Colin Clive. Sadly, Clive copped his eternal nod two years after the filming of this movie due to the ravages of alcohol. This was quite a send off. Another important factor in this movie's overall impact is the wonderful score by Franz Waxman, especially the lilting high strings and harp melody that serves as the theme for the Bride herself, summoned to life in bandages and a wild shock of lightning bolt hair in the form of actress Elsa Lanchester. It's such a sad and powerful moment when the monster lets a big tear stream down his face as she hisses in repulsion at him. Then he pulls the lever that blows the whole castle works sky high. "She hate me", he has realized and I heave a heavy sigh before carrying on.

13. HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES

13. HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES
(1922)
Directed by Benjamin Christensen

This is the kind of history lesson that would've made college more interesting. The movie starts off in a purely educational vein with a twelve minute slideshow of various representations of witches and demons from ancient art to medieval woodcuts accompanied by commentary. The skeptical tone of this commentary leads the viewer to believe that they are in store for a scientific debunking of superstitions regarding sorcery but what emerges instead is true cinematic black magic with director Benjamin Christensen bringing to life the strange old depictions of the supernatural used in his recurring slideshows. The 15th Century skits are given a heightened sense of realism by the sheer ugliness of the actors and no one with a phobia of bad teeth should watch this movie. For those of you who aren't particularly bothered by that sort of thing, a treasure of silent cinema awaits. We have grave robbing, evil witches making brews with severed hands and toads, re-enactments of Inquisition trials and torture (including a helpful section explaining torture devices using the old slideshow routine), broomstick flights over a medieval town, scenes from a witches sabbath that include witches kissing the devil on the ass, sacrificing babies and dancing on a crucifix, and a convent full of lunatic nuns letting loose all of their repressed energies and blaming it on Satan. One of the images that still rattles in my brainpan shows a woman getting her naked back rubbed down with an ointment while straddling a broom as the draped skeleton of a horse meanders by. This esteemed effort officially and forevermore attained cult status when re-released in 1966 with William S. Burroughs providing a voice-over in his wonderful junky drawl.

14. FAUST

14. FAUST
(1926)
Directed by F.W. Murnau

Watching great silent movies is an uncommon delight that transports the willing viewer into the flickering spell of another world and the trip is especially worthwhile when a genius like Murnau is at the helm. Murnau directed four of the most respected and revered films of the silent era, "Nosferatu"(1921), "The Last Laugh"(1924), "Sunrise"(1927), and the rich visual feast known as "Faust". "Faust" was based on the play of the same name by Goethe and tells the old story of a man signing his soul away to the devil to gain access to worldly powers. This fable is a minor obsession with me. I've even made a couple disastrous attempts to pen my own artistic interpretation but I can take comfort in knowing that I am not alone in this pursuit. It's been given various literary treatments, inspired Classical composers (the Berlioz opera "Le Damnation de Faust" and the Liszt symphonic poem "Mephisto Waltz" being two famous examples) and has been committed to film in a variety of ways. I've never seen a version that comes close to this overlooked treasure from 1926. Working with a hefty budget, Murnau called forth the supernatural in real necromancer fashion. He knew how to cast a spell and he also knew how to cast a role. Employing the considerable talents of the legendary Emil Jennings to play the Devil was a stroke of genius. Although Jennings brings a fair amount of impish playfulness to the part there are some truly creepy moments, especially when he is initially summoned by Faust and shows up grinning with eyes aglow. A noteworthy bonus is the lovely Camilla Horn cast in the role of Gretchen and it always tears me up to see her tied to the stake and going up in flames. "As Thou art called by thy unholy name- Mephisto appear!"

15. ROSEMARY'S BABY

15. ROSEMARY'S BABY
(1968)
Directed by Roman Polanski

In the 1960's there was a lot of drug taking and spiritual questing going on. Rejecting established conventions was the trend and a new breed of kooks were forgoing trips to their barbers in order to buy up books on Eastern mysticism and self discovery and shit like that. It was inevitable that all of this soul searching would churn up darker waters and while a famous headline proclaimed that God was dead, the Devil was enjoying quite a comeback. "Rosemary's Baby" was a movie that had perfect timing. Exploitation legend and king of gimmicks William Castle owned the rights to the novel penned by Ira Levin and originally planned on filming the story himself. Now I'd be the first to sing the praises of William Castle but I think it was a good thing that an enthusiastic Roman Polanski persuaded him to hand the project over. Polanski was so enthusiastic that he personally wrote the screenplay, following the novel note by note. The story is about a woman (played in the movie by Mia Farrow) who is chosen by a coven of witches to bear the child of Satan. Poor Rosemary is desperately trying to figure out what the hell is happening to her body and quickly running out of time as her pregnancy advances. It's intelligent, beautifully filmed and graced with a wonderfully surreal dream sequence. Ruth Gordon (who also starred in that other fave of the morbidly minded "Harold and Maude") ended up getting the Oscar for her supporting role as the busy body devil worshipping neighbor. Witches, all of them.

16. DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

16. DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
(1931)
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian

1931 was quite a year for horror films. Universal Studios inaugurated their parade of classics that year with "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" and Paramount Studios made the quick decision to hop on the terror train by adapting Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". It had been given the silent treatment eleven times, most memorably with John Barrymore in the lead role, but this 1931 version is hands down the best. I'll assume that those of you bothering to read this list already know the basic turns of the tale but let me remind you that when Dr. Jekyll gulps down his chemical concoction he doesn't create Mr. Hyde because Mr. Hyde was always there. He emerges as the hairy and lecherous representation of all those horny and sadistic desires that the good doctor has been trying to suppress. The good doctor, engaged to marry a respectable Victorian lady, had eyes for the prostitute Ivy before that potion went down the pipes. Such repression of desires can clearly have more disastrous effects than a bout of ye olde blue balls. If you bottle up those feelings and let the pressure build for too long there will very likely be a dangerous explosion. Mr. Hyde, when he finally emerges, gleefully says "Free! Free at last!" and off he goes with top hat and cane beneath the foggy gaslights of London to indulge in an assortment of despicable acts, climaxing in the sexualized murder of Ivy. Fredric March steals the show as Mr. Split Personality and actually won the Academy Award that year for best actor. He deserved it. He is absolutely fucking crazed, impossible to reason with, rocketing towards perdition and beware, friends, because studies have shown that the same could happen to you!

17. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

17. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
(1974)
Directed by Tobe Hooper

If you've ever been through certain stretches of Texas then you know that this sort of thing could very likely be going on and this spine tingling likelihood gives "Texas Chainsaw" much of it's power. From the self mutilating hitcher to the screaming bloody end this is the gut churning and drugged out face of horror post Spahn Ranch. The gory springboard for the story was the account of Wisconsin farmer Ed Gein who robbed graves for women's bodies which he eviscerated, skinned and dismembered. His secluded snow covered farmhouse was decorated with these parts when authorities finally crashed his sick party in 1957. Switch the scene to dusty hot Texas in the early 1970's and exchange the single madman for an entire family of ghouls and presto, one of the most unsettling bits of cinema is born. The movie starts with a series of blinding flashbulbs that reveal recently uncovered corpses for a blinking moment before fading to black. This sequence, along with many others, still gives me chills. There's no denying that much of the movie is nauseating but goddamn is it powerful. Like rubbernecking a twisted wreck on the highway it makes you feel like a sick fuck afterwards but that morbid pull to reckon bloody death is mighty hard to resist. Oddly enough, one of the images that has always haunted me the most is the shot of a full grown chicken stuck and flapping in the claustrophobic confines of a conventional birdcage. It's an emblem of cruelty that promises pain for any living thing that ventures into this section of Lone Star Hell. Fucked up and visceral and one of the few things scarier than the Butthole Surfers live in their heyday. Watch this one in the heat of Summer with cheap beer and the doors locked.

18. SPIDER BABY

18. SPIDER BABY
(1964)
Directed by Jack Hill

Filmed in 1964 but not officially released until 1968, "Spider Baby" suffered many indignations on it's way to reaching it's well deserved cult status, including inappropriate new titles such as "The Liver Eaters" and "Cannibal Orgy". For awhile it was thought lost but it has survived and is a morbid little treat from beginning to end. Speaking of beginnings, Lon Chaney Jr. warbles the opening theme song which is a lyrical hodgepodge of the horrific with fine rhymes like "Cannibal spiders creep and crawl, and boys and ghouls are having a ball, Frankenstein, Dracula and even the Mummy, are sure to wind up in somebody's tummy". Fucking poetry! Chaney also stars in the movie, caught on celluloid in the twilight of his life, ravaged by alcoholism but still able to manage what may be his best performance ever as the chauffer left in charge of the ailing members of the cursed Merrye family. There are five members of the family left for him to look after in their ancestral old dark house: the largely unseen Uncle Ned and Aunt Martha who reside in the basement and three charmingly demented children- siblings Virginia, Elizabeth and Ralph. Virginia (played by 17 year old Jill Banner) is the character the film is named after who imagines herself to be a spider, eating bugs and "stinging" her human prey with kitchen knives. Hers is one of my favorite horror performances ever and it's hard for me to pay attention to any of the other actors when she is onscreen. Compelling would be the word. Sid Haig, who plays her brother Ralph, also delivers the goods as the murderous drooling man child. When distant relatives come to stake their claim on the Merrye family fortune bad things happen to people who deserve it and those are just the kind of thrills I dig the most.

19. THE INVISIBLE MAN

19. THE INVISIBLE MAN
(1933)
Directed by James Whale

Bringing this H.G. Wells narrative to life took some ingenious special effects and the end result was a milestone of inventive photographic trickery. Universal Studios was creating one ghastly success after another by 1933, but "The Invisible Man" may be the most clever and innovative. In addition to the still impressive camera magic employed to make the man vanish beneath his duds, viewers were also treated to a monumental acting performance. Now, I'm sure you've noticed that there is quite a rogues gallery of mentally unsound characters to be found in the history of horror cinema. There is no shortage of bug-eyed stares, unhinged cackles and psychotic wig outs. This is, after all, a genre well suited for depictions of the disordered mind, beginning with the off kilter madhouse sets of Caligari and threading right through a disorienting succession of rubber rooms along the way. But the performance delivered by Claude Reins in "The Invisible Man" easily distinguishes itself in this crowded asylum. What makes his performance all the more amazing is that it's essentially a vocal performance because he doesn't go completely nutso until he goes completely invisible. Then he babbles and laughs and raves his way right until his snowy demise. At the directorial helm was James Whale and his dry wit is found in full regalia here. I never sit through this movie without laughing out loud. Before moving on I should mention that for a short period of time I had dreams of being invisible obviously inspired by this film. Basically I ran around fucking with people and cackling like Claude Reins. Damn good dreams they were.

20. VAMPYR

20. VAMPYR
(1931)
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer

Now we've reached the top twenty and the greatness of the films to follow makes me shudder with morbid glee. I agonized for weeks over the precise order of these choices, pacing up and down my block like a madman, muttering to myself while people who saw me closed their blinds and checked the locks on their doors. But now I've figured it out. Now I'm typing again. Let's continue. "This story is about the strange adventures of young Allan Gray. His studies of devil worship and vampire terror of earlier centuries have made him a dreamer, for whom the boundary between the real and the unreal has become dim." Thus begins the slow and misty dreamscape of Dreyer's "Vampyr", who stated that his aim with this film was to show the horrors of the subconscious mind. He succeeded. Allan Grey, our main character, is traveling when circumstance demands that he stay in a village where an elderly female vampire has been actively enjoying her sanguine repast courtesy of a local girl. This is the earliest take on the already mentioned LeFanu story "Carmilla" but there isn't anything sexy about the female revenant in this loosely adapted version who is an old hunched over woman that no one would want supping at their jugular. The local girl is played by Sybille Schmitz and, in one of my favorite scenes of all time and evermore and what have you, she smiles at her sister, vampirism taking hold, suddenly seeing her sibling as food. Slow, strange, quiet and without any real shocks, this feverish document unfurls in a shadow realm where reality has lost it's hold and troubling dreams hold sway. Overshadowed by Browning's "Dracula" in the year of it's initial release, Dreyer's "Vampyr" is a far more interesting work.

21. FRANKENSTEIN

21. FRANKENSTEIN
(1931)
Directed by James Whale

Of all the classic monsters, Frankenstein's monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff is the dearest to me. He dangles from the rearview mirror in my car and hangs in a framed movie still on a wall in my humble abode. My deep fondness for the monster finds it's strength in melancholy. He is a grotesque, violent but incredibly sad character. Crafted from various corpses, stitched together and given hideous life by an electrical storm, the monster is born into a wretched existence. Sure, the creature in Mary Shelley's novel differs from this cinematic incarnation but Karloff is brilliant in a wordless performance that conveys all the necessary sorrow, frustration and rage the role demands. Like "Dracula" which was released by Universal Studios earlier in the year, "Frankenstein" is graced with a special creepiness due to it's backdrop of silence. There is no musical soundtrack to speak of (besides the orchestration behind the opening credits) and this makes the buzzing and zapping chaos of the famous resurrection scene come on like real gangbusters. Before "Frankenstein" director James Whale was gaining a reputation for making war movies but after it's incredible success he focused his unique talents on darker fare, managing to direct four bona fide horror monuments between 1931 and 1935 (this one, "Bride of Frankenstein", "The Old Dark House" and "The Invisible Man"). It was the golden age, indeed. The mad scientist, the hunchback assistant (played by Dwight Frye who specialized in the role of bughouse accomplice), the moody overcast cemetery, the angry torch-wielding villagers, the little girl getting tossed into the lake- "Frankenstein" will lumber around in my imagination until they plant me beneath the sod.

22. NOSFERATU

22. NOSFERATU
(1921)
Directed by F.W. Murnau

"Nosferatu. Does not this word sound like the call of the death bird at midnight? You dare not say it since the pictures of life will fade into dark shadows; ghostly dreams will rise from your heart and feed on your blood." That is how this landmark in silent cinema opens and what follows is the story of "Dracula" re-told with the names changed and with a hideous, gaunt, cadaverous bald creature replacing the more appealing Count of the novel. These changes were a weak attempt to cover copyright infringement. The author Bram Stoker had died less than ten years before filming started in Germany and when his wife Florence found out she understandably raised hell. Florence Stoker, by the way, was quite a lady who was also courted by the flamboyant Oscar Wilde. But I digress. Regardless of the ethical shortcomings Murnau was guilty of when mounting this project, the results are spectacular. Because this isn't some film school lesson I won't bother with listing the innovations and technical mastery that Murnau displayed here but let's just say that he crafted a multi-layered work that can be appreciated from a variety of critical angles. On a base level (which is where my running commentary unfortunately tends to reside) the star of the proceedings is, of course, the vampire played by Max Schreck. Images of him rising stiff as a board out of his coffin or creeping forward into a blackened castle doorway can still deliver the shivers.

23. BLACK SUNDAY

23. BLACK SUNDAY
(1961)
Directed by Mario Bava

This is the story of Princess Asa and her lover man Javuto who, as the fable informs us, were quite a pair in 17th Century Moldavia. They dabbled in witchcraft and were put to death by hooded inquisitors in a gruesome manner. The movie begins with the execution of Asa (played by Barbara Steele in her first horror role) and just before the sentence is handed down she spits out a curse on her brother, who is there at the grim torch lit proceedings to convey his condemnation, then the mask of Satan, with spikes on the inside, is nailed to her face and a violent storm erupts. Quite a beginning to quite a movie. It's supposedly based on the Gogol story "The Vij" which is a truly bizarre bit of Russian horror about a man praying in a church over the dead body of a witch while demons from Hell torment him and the coffin where she lies flies around in the air. None of that happens in "Black Sunday" but there is plenty of atmosphere in the form of cemetery ruins, spectral coach and horses soundlessly thundering along in slow motion, and spooky walks through the woods. Barbara turns in a double performance as both the resurrected witch and her descendent Princess Katia who is drained vampire style by her evil ancestor. This was also Mario Bava's first official directorial gig and I've yet to see another one of his films that comes close to it. My favorite line comes from the resurrected Asa as she lies on her burial slab and writes full of hunger, "Come kiss me, my lips will transform you". That, my friends, is perhaps the greatest come hither request that I've ever heard.

24. DAWN OF THE DEAD

24. DAWN OF THE DEAD
(1978)
Directed by George Romero

I'm ashamed to say that I've never been to Pittsburgh but it's on my list of future vacation spots. George Romero and Tom Savini are the two big reasons why. They both hail from this fine city built on steel and it was their combined talents that made "Dawn of the Dead" the great movie that it is. The two actually met in high school and Savini would've been on board for the original "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) if he hadn't been called away by Vietnam. His experience in that war as a combat photographer gave him the chilling first hand experience with real gore and human death that would inform his innovative special effects. He would contribute his talents to a bunch of films including the brainless splatter fest "Friday the 13th" (1980) but "Dawn of the Dead" is the best. In David J. Skal's essential history of 20th Century horror "The Monster Show" he eloquently links the Vietnam experience with the visceral new brand of cinema that followed, "Horror films of the seventies and eighties began exhibiting symptoms remarkably similar to some of those suffered by victims of post-traumatic stress syndrome: startle reactions, paranoia, endless scenes of guerilla-like stalking, and, like traumatic flashbacks, endlessly repeated images of nightmare assaults on the human body, especially it's sudden and explosive destruction". "Dawn of the Dead" has some memorable mayhem. A group of four humans barricade themselves inside a mall to keep a growing number of ravenous zombies at bay but the hungry dead eventually spill inside while battling a crazed group of bikers and the violence escalates into a true bloodbath. This is an intelligent and troubling work co-produced by Dario Argento that has lost none of it's power. "Day of the Dead" followed in 1985 and continued to document the zombie apocalypse in an increasingly bleak fashion.

25. NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

25. NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
(1955)
Directed by Charles Laughton

Robert Mitchum was a cool motherfucker who had little use for the Hollywood scene where he became an anomalous and unlikely star. In the 1940's he seemed to find a special place for his talents in Film Noir, playing the laconic tough guy with the soft spot for all the wrong ladies (see "Out of the Past" (1947) and "Angel Face"(1953) for fine examples of his knack for playing the chump). He was busted for reefer possession around this time and locked up for awhile but friends in high places came to his aid, namely the loaded lunatic Howard Hughes, and Mitchum survived. His laid back, cigarette on the lip, slow talking demeanor would be turned on it's head in 1955 with one of the hallmarks in homicidal performances, the twisted preacher Harry Powell in "Night of the Hunter". Quoting from scripture and brandishing his switchblade with equal enthusiasm he is the scariest monster to emerge on film in the 1950's. Across the knuckles on one hand he has the letters L-O-V-E tattooed and on the other H-A-T-E. I think you might guess which hand runs the show. Greedy and psychotic he is driven to get his tattooed hands on a widow's money so he murders her and, when her two children stand in his way, sets out to kill them, too. This was Charles Laughton's only directorial gig and he crafted moments of rare and unsettling beauty, especially the dead woman sunken in her car, hair flowing in the gentle current as fish glide by. Mitchum had one more memorable psycho in him, the sicko Max Cady in 1962's "Cape Fear", and would be given a fitting send-off in a small but juicy role in Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man"(1998).

26. THE LAST MAN ON EARTH

26. THE LAST MAN ON EARTH
(1964)
Directed by Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow

Yes, here we have my favorite Vincent Price movie and it's based on one of my favorite novels of all time, 1954's "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson. This slender and genius book tells the tale of a man bunkered down in his house while the outside world crawls with vampires. Of course the bloodsuckers have to sleep during the day and this is when our lead character (played by Vincent Price in the movie) sets out to stake and burn as many as he can before the sun falls and he must return to his lair. His prolific killing has made him a legend (hence the book title) to be feared among the infected creatures outside and the tension increases as they close in on him. These aren't conventional vampires. They've reached their undead state due to a nasty plague that kills them then animates their corpses. For those not in the know, Matheson was a great and prolific writer who penned numerous genre standards, including some memorable episodes for "The Twilight Zone" television show. "I Am Legend" was filmed in Italy on a tight budget and the result is a somber bit of cinema that comes very close to capturing the feel of the novel. Vincent Price seems a bit depressed by the stark atmosphere and his performance is appropriately subdued. As an added accolade, George Romero cites it as an influence on a little low budget affair he'd film a few years later called "Night of the Living Dead" (1968).

27. AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL

27. AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL
(1964)
directed by Jose Mojica Marins

You want a real evil villain? I submit the one and only Coffin Joe. Certainly one of the most despicable characters to slime across the screen in horror history, he was created and portrayed in several movies by the infamous Brazilian director Jose Mojica Marins. Wearing a top hat and black cape, bearded and wielding long curling fingernails, Coffin Joe is an undertaker who does not believe in God and who has cultivated a powerful hatred for all things superstitious in the process. When he gets pissed his eyes go bloodshot and then all hell breaks loose. His philosophy is summed up in a memorable sequence when he bellows drunkenly at a gathering wind that is presumably filled with the spirits of the dead, "Nothing is stronger than my disbelief!". Since he has the townsfolk cowering in fear and he is not fettered to any conviction in judgment after death, he freely indulges in his sadistic whims and the list of his atrocities in this film is sickening: He murders his wife, drowns his best friend after bludgeoning him, rapes his best friend's wife and is responsible for her suicide, gouges the eyes out of a nosy physician and then lights him on fire and that's not all. The grainy low budget appearance of the movie somehow makes the violence more convincing and distressing. It's obviously not a nice story but through the progression of these uncomfortable sequences it becomes clear that ghastly retribution awaits at the hands of the angry dead. Even though it's some four decades old it is not for the faint of heart but I've always found it's sheer nastiness oddly compelling. Coffin Joe appeared in a sequel two years later called "This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse" where, after more behaving badly, he is literally dragged into Hell by a faceless demon. Upon meeting the Devil Coffin Joe yells at him "You do not exist!". Now that's some powerful atheism.

28. THE CAT AND THE CANARY

28. THE CAT AND THE CANARY
(1927)
Directed by Paul Leni

The wealthy Cyrus West, thought insane by his greedy relatives, has kicked the bucket and twenty years on his will and testament can finally be read in the creepy old house where he spent his final days. Of course his ghost is still hanging around, according to the severe and spooky housekeeper, but this can't keep a passel of greedy relatives away. They all show up, the will is read and news arrives that an escaped lunatic nicknamed the Cat is on the loose and probably hiding somewhere in the old house. He's called the Cat because he apparently can shred people to bloody ribbons as if they were canaries. And so a long spooky night begins in this, the finest adaptation of the 1922 John Wilard play of the same name. Much credit should be given to director Paul Leni who used touches of expressionism and inventive camera work to bring the eerie old mansion to life with shadows, cobwebs and long hallways of billowing drapes. I've always found something inherently spooky about silent movies and anything involving haunted houses and murder is a special treat, for sure. Old dark house spoofs were quite popular and this is the best. You've probably become well accustomed to the cliches and conventions of such tales which long ago became a part of pop culture (from old cartoons to the Three Stooges and so on) but "The Cat and the Canary" is the root source. It's an entertaining and humorous romp and the Cat is looking sharp with his one monstrously big eye, walrus teeth, flop hat and cape. Yikes!

29. ALIEN

29. ALIEN
(1979)
Directed by Ridley Scott

There are many reasons to sing the praises of this movie but the big kudos goes to Swiss artist H.R. Giger for designing the menacing monster in the many m anifestations of it's growth and the nightmarish world it inhabits. No monster on this list can match Giger's creation in sheer nastiness. It's appropriate that his art first gained widespread acclaim with an H.P. Lovecraft inspired collection of paintings called "H.R. Giger's Necronomicon" and the snapping and slimy creature from deep space in "Alien" certainly has it's Lovecraftian appeal. There aren't many movies that got my heart thumping as hard as this one did the first time I saw it and recent viewings have also had a noticeable effect on my pulse. While the outer space setting is certainly the domain of science fiction this is a bona fide horror movie on every level. The fear escalates and the insinuations are as dark as they come. No matter where our ingenuity and science takes us in the universe it's a guarantee that, being mere mortals powerless against an unforeseen legion of hostilities, we will find horror. In fact our further explorations seem to guarantee these encounters and it's hard to imagine anything more hostile than the windblown gothic planet of darkness where the crew of the Nostromo ends up. Sigourney Weaver survived the acid dripping alien to star in the sequels but they didn't match the impact and claustrophobic isolation of the original. Very grim, very good.

30. CARNIVAL OF SOULS

30. CARNIVAL OF SOULS
(1962)
Directed by Herk Harvey

Because this is a list of my personal favorites it naturally reveals my own idiosyncratic likes and the presence of "Carnival of Souls" is due in large part to my natural affinity for abandoned places and pipe organs. I'll also admit to a special fondness for black and white movies (there are 38 on this list if I counted correctly). So when you add these elements together and start it all off with a drag race, well, it has Johnny Refund written all over it. Candace Hilligoss stars as the haunted survivor of the ill-fated drag race and, between playing church organ to make rent and fending off the advances of a greaseball rummy in her rooming house, she is plagued with visions of the dead. She acquires a morbid fixation with an empty and trashed amusement park by the ocean where she eventually confronts and is chased by a ballroom filled with the waltzing departed. The movie is blessed with that strange and highly personal atmosphere that can only be found in low budget affairs of this time period. Fascinating and strange, it has become a cult classic recently given the royal treatment in a fancy and expensive DVD reissue by Criterion.

31. CAT PEOPLE

31. CAT PEOPLE
(1942)
Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Times were lean for good horror movies in the 1940's but thankfully those into darker fare had the seedy and menacing world of film noir to discover. Born in the Great Depression, these flicks were laden with crime, heartbreak, menace, deceit and body counts that rivaled anything horror was producing. Next to the gun wielding tough guys and back stabbing dames of film noir the tired Universal monsters, now paraded out in increasingly demeaning sequels, looked a bit shabby and tame indeed. But there were a handful of exceptions of interest to monster kids and most of them were produced by Val Lewton for RKO Pictures. The best of these were both directed by Jacques Tourneur, "I Walked With a Zombie" (1943) and "Cat People" (1942). Lewton and Tourneur were in agreement that the best chills could be produced by playing with the imagination of the audience, suggesting horrible things with shadows and sound, giving people the black canvas where they could etch out the creature for themselves, without ever really revealing anything. This worked incredibly well with "Cat People". Simone Simon plays a European immigrant in New York City who lives in fear that she carries with her a Slavic curse that will turn her into a murderous black panther if her sexual impulses are awakened. When her husband starts getting friendly with another woman we find out that jealousy can bring out the beast as well. The modern urban setting, sense of dread and use of long shadows owes much to film noir and a few years later Tourneur would create "Out of the Past" (1947) for RKO, one of the genre's crowning achievements. As for horror cinema, well, it was going through a Post-War transition but, as always, would return with a vengeance.